Russia's central bank says hackers attack its website

An exterior view shows the headquarters of the Central Bank in Moscow, September 13, 2013. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Hackers brought down the Russian central bank’s website on Friday before a meeting on interest rates, the bank said.

“The site of the central bank is experiencing problems due to a hacker attack,” the Bank of Russia said in a statement.

The site, www.cbr.ru, went down on Friday morning and the bank said it was trying to resolve the problem.

The central bank is widely expected to keep key rates unchanged after raising them two weeks ago, after a declaration by President Vladimir Putin that Russia has the right to invade Ukraine sent the rouble and Moscow stocks tumbling.

The Kremlin’s web site, www.kremlin.ru, was also experiencing problems on Friday but the president’s press service said it was a “technical issue” which it expected would be resolved soon.